Between Angels and Insects
by mechanical-rain
Summary: Weiss the Emperor pursues freedom... Nero pursues his brother's love, and Weiss learns he may have to sacrifice one for the other so long as the Restrictor is involved.  Lemon mxm Weiss x nero
1. Chapter 1

"Nii-san…"

It was the soft, familiar voice that stirred Weiss from his ever-darkening thoughts. He knew who it was before the little tendrils of darkness appeared, before vermilion eyes met his own mako infused jade ones, before the narrow male had even fully entered the room.

Weiss regarded Nero silently for a long moment, letting the other cross the length of the large throne room before he returned the greeting. Words were rarely necessary with Nero; the raven often knew what his brother wanted without the white haired male ever having to ask for it.

Just like he'd known that Weiss couldn't sleep… not tonight.

Too many thoughts spun wildly into the leader Tsviets mind, too many possibilities and potential problems with his plans thus far. He couldn't relax. He couldn't settle. He kept thinking about the Restrictor, wondering if he would be able to destroy him without also killing himself due to the virus in the process. Weiss had no intention of winning Deepground for the Tsviets if the process would kill him a few days later…

The Emperor reclined back in his seat as Nero approached him, saying nothing even as the boy reached him and knelt on the floor beside his legs.

"Can you not sleep, nii-san?" asked the sable gently.

"Too much on my mind…" the older brother denied, lifting a hand to run it through the thick, mussed black hair and marveling at its silk like quality.

It was Nero's turn to be silent, enjoying the contact and half closing his eyes as the mask was slipped off of his head and set aside out of the way, revealing his face in its entirety. His licked his newly uncovered the lips and saw his brother track the movement, so he did it again more slowly. Weiss inclined his head just a little, and then leaned down to capture the pale lips against his own. Nero's warm scent swam around him and drew him in, the pliant and soft lips parting to let Weiss in deeper.

Tongues met with a certain degree of urgency, the older humming approvingly when the younger sucked on his bottom lip. Eyes closed and breathing quickened, low mewls mostly from Nero fluttering between them when Weiss' hands threaded into his hair. The Emperor pulled away to suckle on the Sable's earlobe and Nero gasped, kneading his brothers' legs with his fingers subconsciously in the sweet torment.

Normally Nero was so quiet… normally he was stoic and observant, following the orders he was given and rarely raising his voice. During these times though, the times he knew his older brother needed some form of release, he became vocal and wanton- because he knew that's what Weiss liked. Nero would submit to no one, would cry out for no one but for his Emperor.

Nero settled on the floor between Weiss' knees and hooked the claws of his mechanical wings firmly into the arms of the throne to better hold himself without the use of his currently bound arms. Lips parted only a few times when they needed breath, then the Tsviets would be back to their exploration of each other, a familiar dance neither one nor the other would grow tired of. Tonight was not about Nero's needs; tonight was about his restless brother…

The Sable pulled their lips away to touch his lips tentatively to Weiss' throat, waiting until he received a hum of encouragement before he sucked on the skin there and nibbled on a collarbone. Weiss leaned back in his chair, coaxing Nero forward to be able to keep in contact with him, so the younger was soon draped along his body between his knees, licking and kissing at his brother's flesh. He reached a dusky nipple and brushed his lips over it, relishing the sharp intake of breath it drew from the Emperor and delivering a soft bite to the bud just to hear the sound again. Weiss liked it this way… he liked to be worshipped and teased and he liked it to be just a little bit rough. Nero knew all these things….

He knew that his brother's ribs were sensitive, and that fondling them with his tongue would force the older male's heart faster. He knew that suckling on Weiss' nipple like it was a lifeline would make him arch closer, and that dipping his pink tongue teasingly into a navel would make knees clench a little on Nero's sides. These were things no one else knew about Weiss, things that made Nero's chest swell with pride and an eager purr tremble through his throat while he nuzzled his brother's hip. Hardness pressed to his cheek and again he felt another rush of satisfaction. Only he could get the Emperor hot like this… make his skin flush with color, his eyes narrow and darken, lips to part and fingers to clench in the arms of his throne in some pursuit of control.

Belts loosened of their own accord and fell away to release Nero's arms from their crossed position on his chest. He leaned away just enough to readjust and then lowered again to run his fingers up and across his brother's broader chest. Their skin almost matched- a dusty pale resulting more from lack of sunlight than from anything else, and Nero's black fingernails contrasted sharply as they dragged pink lines across hardened abs. Another intake of breath, another belt was pulled away- this one to release Weiss' eager sex. A more eager mouth attached to the weeping crown and licked away the beads of precum, a hand fisted itself in raven locks to further encourage him.

The Sable made soft sounds of delight as he encircled the head of his leader's member with his lips, using one hand to guide the gradually hardening organ into his mouth. Weiss growled appreciatively and the hand tightened in the black locks, Nero relaxing his throat to let the Emperor push himself further into the hot, wet cavern. Weiss was thick and long both, a treat that Nero always loved to taste, and one he often longed to feel pushing up inside of him. The darker haired Tsviet bobbed his head at the pace he knew his brother liked, scraping his teeth lightly over the engorged flesh on the way back and sucking on the head before hallowing out his cheeks on the way back down. Weiss thrust up into Nero's welcoming mouth, the heat coiling through his body with every drag of black nails on his stomach and partly revealed hips.

The pressure built and left Weiss breathless… a tongue that was too hot was running along the underside of his sex from base to the slit at the tip and precum was dripping almost consistently from him. He watched with hooded eyes as his brother took all he had to give, watched himself disappear into a mouth that was only ever revealed to him, watched as folds of black hair that escaped his clutching fingers fell around a pale face and obsidian nails occasionally pawed through the small trail of white curls beneath his navel.

The resistance broke, and with it went Weiss' careful control of himself, and he was coming hard. He shuddered and bit into his own lip to prevent any sound escape, save for a low snarl from exiting his mouth, but kept his eyes open with some difficulty to watch Nero adjust himself and swallow him down. He stroked his length a few times slowly; milking the seed from his emperor until the older Tsviet had no more to give. The hand released form the black silk and instead tucked himself away when Nero had let go of his manhood with a small popping sound.

Sable crawled up into White's lap and Weiss turned him so that Nero could lie back against his chest and listen to the quickly beating heart and the fast breaths the emperor was attempting to use to replenish the supply of oxygen that had suddenly seemed so scarce. Nero licked the remaining moisture off of his lips and turned his head so he could kiss Weiss. This was a much longer, slower kiss than before as the older tasted himself on a pink tongue, but it turned into a shuddered gasp on the raven's part when a hand pressed between his legs and rubbed his neglected member through the cloth of the Tsviet uniform. He keened, writhing a little on his brother's lap and wasn't sure what to do with his hands so he just crossed them again somewhat habitually. Sharp teeth grazed the shell of his ear and Weiss's mouth latched itself to Nero's jaw, determined to leave a mark there in his own possessive desire.

The friction was teasing Nero, pushing heat into an already over-sensitized area and making his toes curl within his boots in both delight and frustration.

"Nii….san…" he somehow managed, the blush across his cheeks conflicting beautifully with the pearl like skin and the dull blood red eyes.

"Yes Nero?" but Nero didn't seem to have any more words he could think of to respond so Weiss chuckled, but slipped his hand into the almost invisible folds of the uniform, pulling the belt loose so that the fabric could peel away and free the previously restricted member. Nero wasn't as big as his brother was, but nor was he even close to being small by any means, and his sex sprang free into the emperor's waiting hand. The Sable bucked his hips as a firm hand explored his length, the other coiling through the folds to grasp his balls and roll them in his palm. Nero's hands went to his brother's arms and he arched his head back against the other male's shoulder, the wings flexed out and forward to try and stay out of Weiss' way and not jab him by accident. The first time they had done this, a wing tip had stabbed the Emperor in the arm… Nero had never been so embarrassed and apologetic in his life- he'd been horrified that he'd maimed his beloved brother…

A gentle squeeze to his sex sent the remainder of coherent thought out the window, and Nero mewled and moaned freely, twisting himself in time with the pumps from his brother. With each tug, Weiss pulled him closer to that oblivion, to the point of numbness and pleasure and too much… with each press of a thumb to the slit he groaned and twitched and cried out his brother's name into the echoing emptiness of the throne room.

He forgot where they were, forgot that Azul or Shelke or Rosso could walk in right now seeking audience with Weiss and come across them like this. Neither of them could bring themselves to care about that possibility- but something in Nero just –knew- that if someone walked in, it was highly unlikely that Weiss would stop jerking him and still be able to carry on a conversation while Nero couldn't help but continue to push himself into his brother's hand. A twisted thought, but one that made him all the hotter anyway. The uniform was too tight; all the belts were holding him in but tonight was not for undressing…

A sharper nip at his ear finally pushed Nero over the edge and he released himself into Weiss' hand, his mouth open in a silent cry of bliss as the hand slowed. He worked him until the spasms had ceased and the raven has stopped thrashing, murmuring soft things into his hair and hot breath tickling the partly covered neck.

For several minutes there was only the sound of heavy breathing, then the wings released the throne and Weiss had lifted Nero.

"Nii-san?" Nero asked groggily as he was being carried away, but it took a tremendous effort to even slightly care where they were going. When he found it to be Weiss' sleeping quarters, he relaxed further and struggled to stay awake as his brother removed the wings, setting the constructs aside and releasing all the belts from Nero's body so he could clean him of his own seed and lay him down on the large bed.

"Sleep." The Emperor order as he lay down beside the mostly undressed Sable, and Nero curled into the warm embrace beneath the blankets, letting the order soothe his mind into quiet peace. When he was deep into slumber, Weiss traced a finger over the pale lips and smiled faintly to himself…

Nero belonged to him…

Weiss would gladly peel the flesh off of challengers with their own spines if anyone ever touched His brother.

With that last somewhat comforting thought, Weiss coiled his strong arms around his narrow brother and nuzzled into the feathery black hair to finally let himself rest, the troubles of the day melting off in the presence of the one person who Knew him.


	2. Chapter 2

Nero stared out at the wasteland of rock and sand stretched out before him… stared at the horizon that shimmered with heat and the burning sun always settled somewhere directly over their heads, seemingly unmoving…. Mocking…

If he was honest with himself, Nero wasn't actually listening to the chatter from the other nearby Tsviets. They could have been bickering about the heat or Rosso's high maintenance morning rituals… or something along those lines, but the raven was too focused on nothing at all to be paying them any mind. His deep black hair was thick and long, holding in more heat on the back of his neck and shoulders… the Tviets uniform clung to his skin, folded arms over his chest beneath the straps doing nothing to circulate air, and the metal wings were only getting hotter the longer he stood out here. If it wasn't by Weiss' request that they come out here, he would have been…. Decidedly irate…

However, Weiss' orders were absolute. Come out here, deal with whatever was in this ugly place, then come home to cool… dark… underground base, where Nero could have a bath and lay stretched out on the cold stone courtyard, brushing it off as a bad experience. He didn't know how surface dwellers could deal with this sun sneering at them from above all the time…. Even the other Tsviets didn't seem to have anything against it, but it bothered him more than a little. Nero was a creature of darkness, who wielded it as an extension of his will… but here there was no darkness.

"Nero…" the raven heard Azul say his name from somewhere nearby, but it took several seconds for the vermilion eyes to catch up and glance over at the brutish male, "Shelke says the scanners are going off… whatever it is, its nearby."

"Very well, let's get this over with." Nero looked back at the horizon with a grimace of distaste, then let it go and set about wandering the desert cliffs in search of something.. anything that would give them a clue as to what they were dealing with.

"Neeroh." Rosso this time. Something about the way she pronounced his name never failed to bother him, but it wasn't like he'd ever let her know that, "deed Lord Vice tell you anee more details about ze mission?"

"Why would he do that?"

"Vell you are 'is brothar, so one vould assume-"

"I'll remind you not to assume anything when it comes to Lord Weiss… It's not our place to question his orders." Nero responded very smoothly, but it was in 'that' tone.. the one he only used when someone had spoken a direct or indirect or.. even very abstract.. threat to his brother's authority. It was a very dangerous tone, and one that none of the Tsviets would push, provided they valued their lives and sanity.

A quiet rumbling disturbed their lethargy, starting off as a soft sound and then forming a crescendo into the stones beneath their feet, shaking the earth as whatever it was grew closer. Nero stared at the ground thoughtfully- If it was really that big, its no wonder the Restrictor had wanted so many Tsviets on the case, and not just the usual Deepground force of soldiers.

In the corner of his eye, Nero saw the familiar flash of orange from Shelke's sabers, and Azul rolled his shoulders to loosen them while Rosso reached for the blade strapped to her back. For all their readiness, none of them were actually ready for the thing when it burst up from the ground in a spray of sand and teeth.

Nero had long enough to realize it was a worm.. a monstrously huge worm with circles of spinning teeth in its mouth and a body of surging, mottled and bulging flesh, before it was on them. The colossal tail slammed into Azul, but its mass was so large that Nero couldn't even see the rest of the group. He smelled singed and burning flesh- probably from the sabers- and could hear Rosso's blade whistling through the air, but the brunt of his attention was on its mouth. The worm was facing him, its body heaving up a roar to send a wash of breath raging around the dark Tsviet, who's clawed wings had already grabbed his guns and were firing into the monster's open mouth.

The breath almost made Nero gag, and he was thankful for the mask around his face, preventing the worst of the rotting stench of decay from entering his lungs, as though it were a poison the Tsviet wanted nothing to do with.

The four rounds he pumped into the thing did nothing to slow it, and the worm's round mouth crashed into the ground where Nero had been a split second earlier. Now the Tsviet was gliding several yards away from it, his feet skimming over the ground and supported by his abilities, watching the worm chew up the rocks with a slightly curled lip. Nero landed lightly on the ground closer to Azul, looking up at the panting male then behind him for a moment when something caught his eye. Azul ran off to find something big enough to throw at the worm, probably frustrated that the rockets hadn't loaded yet, and something shone near their transportation vehicle about a half-mile off. Nero stared at it, deaf to the smashing and grinding sounds of battle behind him, trying to make out the dark figure by their truck… he thought the helmet looked familiar…

About then, the blistering sun was suddenly blocked, and Nero found himself in a shadow. He would have been relieved if he wasn't confused, especially when a large glob of viscous liquid oozed and dropped onto the rock beside his boot. The raven frowned at it, then looked up, in time for a rounded mouth to come down and shut out light altogether.

Where was he? Everything was suddenly black… and suddenly pain…

Teeth everywhere, ripping at him, shredding his skin as he was bounced along the inside of a swirling mouth. It was too hot in here.. far too hot.. hotter than it was outside and absolutely suffocating. Then it wasn't just heat, but blood… dark blood spilled across his skin and Nero couldn't tell if it was his or not. Disoriented, the Tsviet tried to right himself desperately, but his arms were still bound, and the thing was still knocking him about like a cat in a tumble drier.

More heat, this time in the form of raw, skating pain as the teeth skipped deep, raking across his shoulder blade through fabric, skin and tissue. Still- it was darkness he was in now, and darkness he could deal with. Nero wriggled and churned, managing to get his arms loose even as yet another tooth stuck deep into his hand. He summoned the blackness with him, summoned his powers from deep in his body and felt it respond.. felt the soothing, cold brush of familiar shadows on his skin, like an old friend returned, and pushed it through his pores into the worm. The purple and black sphere exploded, tearing apart teeth and mouth and destroying the right half of the worm's skull.

The parasite had no brain, and as such had not yet realized the fatality of the wound. Gore and tissue poured to the ground and splattered when the worm shook his head, and with a final roar, a desperate attempt to rid itself of whatever was damaging it, the creature opened its mouth and threw Nero with all of its strength. Of course by then it was far too late for the beast, who was convulsing and writhing in the sand, scattering the Tsviets in all directions just to avoid it, and its struggles were lessening with each passing second.

Nero landed hard though… the first bounce crunched his somewhat dainty shoulder beneath his body, the second smashed his wings across the rocks, the final one slid him for several feet, and it was only once he'd stopped and reached a hand to his stomach that he realized a twist piece of thin metal from his wing had impale him. It was stuck there, attached to the joint on his back and every twitch sent a white hot stab of agony through his gut. Nero gasped and threw his head back, his hair unfurling as a black mane into the growing pool of blood around his body. The sun didn't seem so bad anymore… actually it seemed like it was burning out… the world was darkening for every ounce of blood he lost.. and cooling, losing the heat of the day into blissful, deep cold spreading from the wound on his stomach.

For a few seconds.. Nero felt only numbness.

Then someone was shouting orders, and Azul had lifted his body, the slight curl disturbing his wounds and dragging him back into heat and agony all over again. He would have screamed at Azul for his incompetent blunder, but Nero had no breath with which to do so, and the shock to his body only allowed interrupted stages of consciousness at the very best.

By the time they got back to the truck, Nero's mind was drifting in unseeing, deaf and cold darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

People seem under the impression that a return to consciousness is always sharp and quick, even after losing blood…

This is not the case- not for Nero anyway. For him, awareness came in short bursts.

First he knew he was no longer in the sun, but nor was he moving in a truck. He knew it was cool wherever he was; he felt steel beneath his back and restraints on his wrists, ankles and neck holding him down.

The next sense to awaken was his hearing. He heard the steady blip of computer monitors, a soft swish of a mechanical door sliding open, footsteps on steel grate and the quiet hiss of fabric being moved to allow a warm, large hand to touch his chest. He heard breathing, deep rich, accompanied by a steady, strong heartbeat near his head, and a thoughtful sound rumbled from within a swelled chest.

Then it was smell, and Nero found it was this that he was most pleased to have back. He could smell the sterility of the medical wing and the thicker latex stench that always made him feel like he had some kind of powder stuck in his throat. More importantly he could smell HIM. That almost cedar like smell mixed with man and musk that swam around him, match hot breath dancing over his chest when he inspected Nero, raising goosebumps in its wake. He could smell the clean soap left on his skin from a recent shower and the almost nostalgic aftershave on his face… Nero imagined he could smell his mood too… he imagined with was something worried, but controlled and affectionate…

"Nero." With the vocal recognition came excitement, memories in quick little flashes of the inside of a worm's mouth- and then pain.

Nero arched just a little and hissed, but a firm press on his flat stomach pushed him back down onto the table and stilled him.

"Nero, calm down."

"Yes… Weiss.." he managed to wheeze, struggling to obey his master, and Weiss' free hand moved to his cheek.

He opened his eyes, and saw just what he expected to. Weiss' oceanic swirls of green and blue eyes were staring down at him with a weird mix between concern and disapproval. The thick white hair looked very wet, and was lying nearly flat down his back and face, occasionally dripping a bit of water onto the table by Nero's head. He didn't even have his weapons on him… all evidence that he'd hurried to the medical wing as soon as he'd received the news, and yet his expression was focused and clear, face a little pinched as it sometimes got when he was trying not to be as annoyed about something as he'd like.

"Do you know what happened?"

"I…" Nero trailed off, reluctantly returning to his rebuilding memories, "The thing was a worm.. it grabbed me but I think I killed it, Lord Weiss."

Amusement, and Nero's chest bubbled with pleasure upon seeing it, "yes Nero you killed it. You also blew apart half of the medical wing, fractured Azul's arm, and teleported me out of my shower into the throne room… which was…. Odd."

"My apologies brother-"

"Oh and… we've yet to find the three medical staff you sucked into a vortex."

"I will try to retrieve them-"

"Not to mention of course that you wouldn't uncurl long enough for anyone to treat your wounds.."

"That must be why I'm restrained-"

"Still, in the long run you completed the mission." Weiss sighed then, and Nero blinked, distracted by watching the thoughts play across his brothers face. One would have to know Weiss as well as he did to see it, but the Emperor was actually very expressive… it was just… subtle.

Weiss seemed to become aware of the intense look of concentration on Nero's face before he'd even looked back down at him, and snorted lightly, pressing the tip of his index finger into the furrow on his younger brother's brow to try and smooth it out.

"Your wounds have been treated, the worm is dead, and I'll expect you to return to active duty within the week. Understood?" that worked… any time Nero looked like he was lost- or losing himself- a solid order form Weiss would ground him back in reality.

"Hail, Weiss.." he agreed, "but- brother I think I saw something strange during the battle with the worm."

"What would that be?" Weiss was listening, but he was also inspecting the newly stitched and bandaged hole in Nero's stomach somewhat dubiously, like he expected it to break open again at any moment.

"I thought I saw the Restrictor out there… that's why I was distracted."

"The medical team said heat stroke." More amusement, like the thought of Nero getting heat stroke was laughable, but not totally insane, "dainty, pale little flower that you are."

Nero frowned at him, and the darkness responded to the change in mood by swiftly ripping the restraints from his hands, neck and ankles, allowing the boy to sit up and wrap his arms tightly around Weiss' neck. The Emperor started to pull back and twist them, but the Sable arched a bit, managing to flip his brother around and tighten the hold just enough to still the more muscular male, effectively trapping him… even if it hurt, and blood was starting to seep into the bandaging.

Weiss paused, considering his current situation, and then he drew in a deep breath and laughed. Nero loved that sound most in the word, because he rarely heard it, but here Weiss was, laughing in the midst of a choke hold with his shoulders shuddering and his eyes closed.

"Alright, Alright you've proved your point.. let go before you hurt yourself." He snorted when he was able to regain breath, and Nero released to flop onto his side and pretend his body wasn't seriously hurting right now, a smirk curving his lilac colored lips.

Weiss sat on the edge of the table, one hand anchoring himself on the edge, and the other running absently along the currently empty metal wing joints installed on Nero's thorasic spine, hooked into the very nerves to be controlled like limbs when they were connected, and the most sensitive place on Nero's body. Consequently, the raven had to try pretty hard to pay attention to what Weiss was saying.

"Anyway.. if you say you saw the Restrictor I'll take your word for it.. but that concerns me. No one else saw him, and he did nothing to aid in the attack against the worm…. I'll have to look into it myself I imagine, since my right hand man went and got himself hurt."

"My apologies, brother…"

"Forget it, just recover quickly so you may resume being of use." Weiss moved the hand to lightly stroke the thick, tangled black hair and then slid to his feet, "rest. Hojo will be down shortly to accelerate your healing processes."

"Pleasant."

"I know, but do try not to banish him from this dimension… Horrible little man or not, he has his uses." Weiss directed with a short chuckle, "just deal with it and return to my side when you can."

"As you wish, Nii-san." Nero agreed faithfully, and Weiss bade him a faint grunt of acknowledgement before parting from the small room, the door sliding shut behind him and leaving Nero alone… or at least until Hojo would show himself.

Gods above… Nero hated getting hurt. He hated that he couldn't carry out any orders during recovery. He hated that he seemed weakened for that brief amount of time…. Most of all, Nero hated Hojo.

Vile man if there ever was one.


	4. Chapter 4

"How are you feeling, my boy?" Hojo's cackle somewhat startled Nero, who hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until he'd been woken up by it.

"Vapid." The sable responded flatly, opening his eyes just to narrow them at the scientist, watching the scrawny man as he shuffled around the room gathering what he needed, then came back and hooked his bony fingers into the front of Nero's bandaging, pulling it enough to see the wound beneath.

"Now, now, don't be that way. You know you're in good hands, this used to be a medical facility after all."

"Before you turned it into a den of monsters, that is."

"What was that?"

"Can we just get this over with? I have work to do." Nero rolled onto his back and tried to look as cooperative as possible, despite the growing desire to have his darkness pull the scientist apart… the only thing stopping him was Weiss' orders. Something about the man freaked him out.

"Oh but of course." Hojo had a laugh that made Nero's skin crawl… but at least he was pulling on those latex gloves like he was finished wasting time with preamble chat.

The man vanished from Nero's line of sight and rolled a metal cart over to his table, fixing the white mask over his face and searching for what the Tsviet was certain to be an unnecessary amount of time, just to pull out an empty syringe and a bottle filled with swirling, noxious looking mako. Hojo was a fan of the theatrical.. Nero knew from experience the less he reacted to the man's behavior, the faster he'd get what he wanted and allow the raven to leave. Still, seeing that mako fill the syringe as Hojo slowly pulled back on the plunger never gave him a good feeling… usually something like trepidation. None of the Tsviets had terribly pleasant memories of the stuff, even if they had lived here their whole lives… but they were soldiers of Deepground, trained with torture worse than a little infusion here and there.. so they would grit their teeth and say nothing to give Hojo the satisfaction.

"Let's begin."

The needlepoint sank into the soft, pale flesh between two of Nero's winding black and purple tattoos, just above where he'd been stabbed. At first there was nothing, but with every CC of mako entering his body, the poison became fire and burned throughout his stomach, following the path his heart was pumping it until it had reached every corner of his body and left him shaking. Nero opened his mouth, pulling his lips back over sharp fang like teeth and his pupils shrank to pinpoints. Hojo took the chance to slip something hard and leathery into his mouth, so when the following pressure to his wound took him by surprise, those pointed teeth sank into the object instead of into his own tongue or lips. Nero bit hard; using it to try and distract himself from whatever the mako was doing to his system. The Darkness in him was moving too, chasing the mako like it intended to destroy whatever was hurting its host… like it could overtake the mako and convert it into more darkness.

While the mako and the Darkness played cat and mouse in his veins, Nero wasn't actually aware of Hojo, who had paused to trace his fingers slowly down across the Tsviet's convulsing ribs, watching the flesh jump and twitch over the wiry but strong frame. He wasn't just watching Nero's body though.. he was watching the markings on the boy's skin. Of course they weren't actual brandings or tattoos at all… more like bruising, like the darkness in Nero's body was visible beneath the boy's almost translucent skin. This meant that times like now, when the Darkness was reacting to an intrusion, the markings were shifting and tangling themselves, merging and forming new patterns in a morbid kaleidoscopic dance. Hojo didn't care for the beauty of it, he cared that it was a sign of power.. of a successful experiment… Nero was a completed art piece… now if only he were as independent as Weiss was- but instead he had to be so steadfastly connected to his brother, so stubbornly loyal that he was nearly useless on his own.

"…Pity." Hojo purred, his fingers barely a tickle across Nero's hip and then across his arm, touching the nails where the Darkness had permanently stained them black, "You have so much promise…. I wonder…"

Hojo moved again, barely a mumbling shadow in Nero's sight anyway, and came back with a new object. Nero could see that it was small and square, and that it was shiny with some sort of barb on one side, but that was all.

"What…" he tried to question.

"Oh hush, hush hush…" Hojo cooed back, "Don't start fussing now Nero. If this works, it will provide a great deal of valuable data to Shinra… if it doesn't, don't worry, I can probably extract it again before it causes too much damage to your body."

Yes because that sounded so reassuring…

Nero was about to explain to Hojo the exact size and shape of the object Hojo could find a hole on himself to inject into, but the scientist had pushed the small object directly into the hole on Nero's stomach, the barbs on it puncturing something inside and the Tsviet threw back his head….

This time when he awoke, he was…. For lack of a better word…. Comfortable.

He knew by the scent and the temperature that it was his own room… he knew by the feel of the soft sheets and blanket under him and the way the pillows were shaped. He knew by the level of light before he'd even opened his eyes…

Nero kept his room at a very specific temperature, somewhere just a little bit cold but warmer than the rest of Deepground often was. His pillows were shaped longer than they were wide, because he usually just grabbed a hold of them with his arms instead of using them for his head… and his room was the only one of the Tsviets with no lighting whatsoever. Pitch black at all times, Nero's internal clock kept him on time for everything, and the lack of light in the room kept his Darkness happy and alert. He was safer in the dark… unseen, but always seeing.

Besides that, his wounds had sealed while he'd been out and the mako was down to an ignorable tingle in his skin, a phantom itch like syndrome the Tsviets were used to by now. The only trouble was that it didn't reach that level until a few days after injection- so how long had Nero been out exactly?

The raven puffed a sigh and sat up to find that not only was he healed… he was washed, dressed in his sleeping pants and his hair had been recently brushed. Paranoid, Nero propped up his knee and pressed his face into the fabric there, searching for the scent of whomever had touched him so intimately…

To his ultimate relief, it was Weiss' scent on him and not Hojo's…

Feeling better than he had in a week, Nero slipped out of bed and stretched, feeling the Darkness brushing greetings over his subconscious and the tense knots in his muscles from inactivity loosening up. He still didn't have his wings in… but that was fine, they were probably still in repair- he'd pick them up later.

Nero was just about to decide if he should eat or find his brother first when the decision was made for him.

He heard the code pressed into the keypad on the door seconds before it slid up and someone stepped in. The light was behind him so Nero couldn't make him out all that well, but he didn't need to. Just by the silhouette and the very way he stood he knew this person as well as he knew himself.

"Brother-"

"Nero.. you're up already?" Nero felt Weiss cross the room, knowing full well his brother had memorized the interior by now and would have no trouble navigating in the dark. When warm hands rested on his narrow shoulders, Nero sighed pleasantly, "how are you feeling?"

"Well enough to carry out whatever orders you may have for me, Weiss." Nero responded automatically, and a chuckle sounded from close to his face, close enough for breath to skirt over his cheek.

"I should have expected such an answer… sit down, Nero."

He did, almost before the request had finished leaving his brother's lips. Nero was happy- or as happy as he was currently able to get, and that made his Darkness buoyant and wispy around their feet. Nero felt the bed dip under his brother's weight, and simply waited expectantly for any instruction or unspoken hint as to what would come next. He loved being in the dark with Weiss… unpredictable… controlling and quick Weiss…

Once the Emperor was comfortable, a brush touched the back of Nero's head and he closed his eyes responsively, letting his brother comb out the long, thick black hair for him until it became a wave of dark silk trickling across his shoulders. They said nothing for a long time… there was nothing that needed to be said, and the two brothers' weren't the sort to fill silence with unnecessary words. They preferred the quiet, a little bit of peace between them before they'd have to return to the chaos of Deepground and the somewhat louder Tsviets, accompanied by the ring of steel on steel or bullets fired into targets in the training rooms… sometimes even the screams of the disobedient.

When Weiss set the brush aside and laid down on his back, Nero followed without the request being verbalized.

They both lay in the darkness, the side of their heads and their shoulders touching but nothing else, and stared at a ceiling they couldn't actually see. They could feel each other's body heat, smell the scents from each other's hair- currently overlaying in places where black merged with white-, and hear soft breathing alongside steady heartbeats.

"Lord Weiss!" Azul's booming request was loud even in Nero's room, which was a good distance from any of the other rooms or halls, and both of the boys on the bed gave matching sighs.

"There will be time for this when Deepground belongs to us." Weiss mused, but when he sat up, Nero felt part of himself go with his brother and leave him empty… like always…

"I suppose."

"Don't be bitter." Weiss chuckled faintly, "get up… join us out in the Throne Room and we'll see what Azul's griping about."

"I will dress and meet you, Brother." Nero promised, turning his head to wait as Weiss made his way to the door, and caught a passing glimpse of his smirk as the man stepped back out into the light and left him in darkness again.

"…Deepground will be yours." Nero mumbled to no one in particular, "You will be the Emperor in the end… even if it kills me, I will fulfill your dream, Brother."


End file.
